Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen on Friday reacted furiously over the killing of 26 nationals in Libya by the traffickers.
He sought information on the human traffickers and demanded punishment of those involved in human trafficking and killing after their arrest.
“We contacted with the IOM (International Organisation for Migration) to make an arrangement for the 26 bodies in hospital morgue and demanded compensation for their families. We also sought information about traffickers,” he said on Friday.
Six out of 11 injured Bangladesh citizens have recovered and Bangladesh Mission in Libya is in touch with them to get further details on the incident, he said.
“The government and Bangladesh Mission in Libya are trying to know from which districts the Bangladesh citizens went to Libya and through which channel and who encouraged them to fall into trap.”
He said the Libyan Interior Ministry already ordered arrest and punishment of the killers but there is no effective administration of the Tripoli government in the area where the Bangladesh citizens were killed.
At least 26 Bangladesh citizens were killed while 11 others injured in a gun attack reportedly by some human traffickers in the desert town of Mizdah in Libya on Thursday.
Different international media also reported the incident claiming that the family of a Libyan trafficker killed 30 migrants in revenge for his death.
They have been killed in the town of Mizda, which is 180 kilometers away from Tripoli, said the Bangladesh Embassy.
The Embassy came to know about the incident over phone from one of the Bangladeshi survivors who took shelter in a Libyan family after the incident.
The Foreign Minister said they cannot rule out possibility of more such incidents if the human traffickers remain active.
“The fear is that traffickers remain active”.
Dr Momen urged the young people of the country not to take such risk as human traffickers remain active.
He said the traffickers might have planned to send those Bangladeshi people to Italy through risky boat journey.
Bangladesh Mission in Libya will send a report soon to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs about steps taken by the Libyan government and information about the human traffickers.
War is still going on between two strong groups in Mizdah town and the Tripoli government took control over the town just few days back.
Most of the countries shifted their Missions to Tunisia but only three countries including Bangladesh are continuing operations from Tripoli, said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The Embassy is providing support to Bangladesh citizens amid this adverse situation, it said.
The foreign ministry said the Bangladesh government is against all kind of trafficking and the government has taken various steps to halt human trafficking.
“The international community needs to work jointly to uproot human trafficking though there has been much progress in Bangladesh amid various efforts.”